Those two things aren't mutually exclusive.

Yeah that too.

Religion is half the problem lol, thousands of years of tribal society is the other half.

-PB

Im not sure if democracy would work in the middle east.
Religion is so dominant in the scheme of things its hard to have any compromise from any parties...

Im not saying he should have gone harder....neither here or there...Im just saying what Obama would've done in response.

ISIS and Boko have killed more muslims than any other religious group haven't they?

The best part is that within 100 years time, there will be so few conservatives left in the country that we can put them all on Tasmania and just turn them into a 24 hour reality TV show, "Life in the 18th century".

Who gives a shit if they have democracy or not?

According to whom?

And does it matter if they are? They're all foreign terrorists anyway.

Edited by 433: 6/11/2015 02:55:55 PM

But they aren't targeting ISIS - Russia have been bombing the Syrian rebels mainly, not ISIS.

Oh god, are you really that simplistic???

Its not a matter of who is "harder".

The issue is that the west is reticent to do anything that strengthens Assad, so they have taken on a policy of containment.

Russia couldn't care less about having a democracy in Syria - Assad is their man. So they are happy to bomb the rebels.

There is plenty you can critique about the approach of the US, but simplistic chest thrusting is the wrong approach to take.

if it was Obama he would give them a slap on the wrist

Russia are doing the right thing here, we created ISIS and they're just cleaning up our mess. Good on 'em.

And Vice :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Edited by 433: 6/11/2015 11:59:49 AM

I think you are missing the wider geo-political perspectives here. Russia sees ISIS as an American problem. They have an interest in keeping Assad in charge, they have been bombing the Syrian rebels 80% of the time, not ISIS.

If you have noticed, Putin has said nothing about the bombing other than "The US & Britain are jumping to conclusions".

https://news.vice.com/article/russia-now-has-4000-people-in-syria-and-theyre-not-in-a-rush-to-fight-the-islamic-state?utm_source=vicenewsfb

While the US and it's allies have made fighting the Islamic State a major priority in Syria, Russia is less concerned with the militant group. So far, around 80 percent of their strikes have hit non-Islamic State rebels fighting the Assad regime, according to open-source analysis conducted by Reuters.

That fits with Russia's overall view of the conflict, said Kofman.

"The Islamic State is an American problem, it's not a Russian problem," he said.

Russia intervened initially because other rebel groups, like the Al-Qaeda aligned Nusra Front, and smaller rebel groups backed by the CIA, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey were threatening Assad-held territory.

"The Islamic State is too far to the east to really be an immediate threat to Assad," Kofman explained. "For Russia they are.... a third order problem."


Edited by AzzaMarch: 6/11/2015 11:29:59 AM

Yeah Putin will go in hard if it really was ISIS.

It would show up those punk kids who fly over to join isis (disaffected and thinking how cool) how insignificant that puny organisation really is

If it was a bomb look out ISIS.

Don't think Russia will be taking a softly softly approach here.

To be honest if that was the case, I don't think Russia should act to surprised given their ramped up activities in Syria.

-PB

According to us media. The white house has stated they have no idea as the egyptians are leading this one

Maybe it's not ISIS at all, and it's just another case of 'Monarchists vs Republics?' :oops:

The aircraft that had a bomb blow up onboard over Egypt looks increasingly likely to be the work of IS according to the US...I'd be interested to hear if Murdochs rags thinks its just another case of a lunatic onboard and nothing to do with religion.

Of course but now they've stopped stabbing their neighbours, unless their neighbours are muslims, then they go hard ;)

Birmingham was never a nice place. Always has been filled with yobbos with issues about stabbing people

proximate cause vs root cause

When I was in Birmingham there was a lot of Muslim vs. non-Muslim tension. Whilst I know where you're coming from I think economics wasn't the major issue.

I would point the finger to the economic effects of long-term industrial decline in many formerly economically strong cities, rather than blaming "multiculturalism".

Yes.

When was the last time you went to a place like Birmingham or north London? Not the most friendly places in the world.

"Everyone holds everyone in contempt"? Surely you jest.

Ridiculous comment.

I just re-emphasise:

"Professor Hocking said that Kerr's private papers clearly show that the Palace knew that Kerr was considering the dismissal months before it happened. The Palace did not counsel Kerr against the dismissal scenario, did not advise him to warn Whitlam of the possibility of dismissal and, most significantly, did not themselves alert Whitlam to the fact that the matter had been raised by the Governor-General".